Solaris 9 x86 Review

ValourX writes "Here is a review of Solaris 9 x86, 08/03 edition. Now that the single-CPU edition is free to download for non-commercial use, people will be compelled to write a Solaris CD and try it out. Read this first -- there are a lot of things you should know before you begin. You might want to check out the documentation or explore other resources like the hardware compatibility list as well."

Re:Reviewer bias

[thryllkill]

Not to mention his assertion that SCO UnixWare is a viable operating system option. (I hope that was a joke)

click here

[genevaroth]

I went to check out the SUN site with the links, http://wwws.sun.com/software/tours.html#4 Click "Security Everywhere" hehe

compelled?

[Imperator]

Now that the single-CPU edition is free to download for non-commercial use, people will be compelled to write a Solaris CD and try it out.

Compelled!? I've heard of OS Nazis, but I had always assumed that was just a figure of speech...

Single-CPU Edition?

[orkysoft]

Now that the single-CPU edition is free to download for non-commercial use, ...

The SMP edition is available for $699 ;-)

You Might be a Linux PC Weenie If...

[Anonymous Coward]

a) You say things like "if you have a Sun workstation [...] you're more or less stuck with Solaris"

b) You compare the Watch Errors to the linux console not by referring to the console, but by referring to the keyboard shortcut for TTY1. (Obviously you don't know the horrors of having console messages scroll up your OpenWindows desktop)

c) You have the audacity to complain that Solaris X86 won't run SPARC-only binaries or OS X Binaries. (It also, sadly, does not make toast pop out of your CD drive)

d) You don't know about Sun disklabel format. Perhaps you've never actually used fdisk from the console.

e) You complain that there was no /etc/resolv.conf. You never read the manpages to discover exactly where Solaris keeps its info (hint: try /etc/networks, /etc/hostname.[dev] and /etc/nsswitch.conf)

f) Instead of taking a screenshot, you link to a hideous old CDE screen grab. You demonstrate a complete ignorance of Motif, and god help you if we mention NeWS.

g) You complain that you can't migrate data. Perhaps because Solaris doesn't know what the hell Ext2 is.

h) You complain about Scroll wheels. Then you mention a "usual" fix, for XFree86. That "usually" doesn't work on my SGI box, either. How rude!

i) You refer to the default shell as SH. Not the Bourne Shell, no. just SH

Fewl...

Re:Save some time

[Anonymous Coward]

You can use the Solaris::PerlGcc package to use gcc to compile perl modules for use with the included perl.

Re:How does this help us, or Sun

[james_marsh]

Those Blade2500's are pretty nice machines though, we have a couple internally.

Ouch! That must have hurt.

Re:Solaris Just Isn't A Desktop OS

[jmusits]

Actually the claw end of a claw hammer works great for opening beer bottles. Speaking from ecperience.

"Fedora"?

[Ice_Balrog]

Solaris 9 is not very impressive when you put it next to FreeBSD or a good commercial GNU/Linux distribution like Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, or one of the better community distros like Debian or Fedora.

Um, I believe he misspelled "Slackware".